Ferrotec to Cut 800 Jobs, Restructure Solar Silicon Business

By Chisaki Watanabe -
Nov 7, 2012

Ferrotec Corp. (6890), a Japanese maker of
electronic components, plans to cut about 800 jobs across the
company as it restructures its solar product business.

Ferrotec will stop making and selling silicon ingots,
wafers and cells used for solar panels under its own brand, the
Tokyo-based manufacturer said today in a statement. It will
produce them for other companies.

Ferrotec and its peers have grappled with lower prices for
panels as Chinese producers flood the market, economies stagnate
and governments curb subsidies for renewable energy. The
oversupply has contributed to losses for the Japanese company,
which revised its half-year earnings forecast today.

“The business environment for the solar-panel market has
deteriorated rapidly since the second half of last year,” the
company said in the statement. “We made plans to restructure
through mainly reducing the size of our business.”

Ferrotec will close a plant in the U.S. state of Oregon
that makes crucibles, devices used to produce silicon ingots,
said spokesman Takanori Hirose, who couldn’t immediately comment
on how many jobs there will be affected. Company executives will
also take a pay cut of as much as 50 percent for the nine months
through June, according to the statement.

Ferrotec expects to report a net loss of 6.2 billion yen
($77.2 million) for the six months through September, having
previously forecast a loss of 650 million yen.